Story 5 – The Forbidden Word

Edward the Pipsqueak

Edward Elric is constantly teased as shorty or any synonyms of that word. Example: Bean, Pipsqueak, Little, Tiny, Small, Mini, Miniature, Beansprout, Dust, Runt, and so much more. Surprisingly, Edward admitted to himself that he is small for his age. In volume 11, when Edward came back from Resembool after he dug their mother’s grave, Edward learned a theory about him giving nutrients to Alphonse’s body because they are brothers. Also because their souls are bonded together by blood and that there is a possibility that their souls crossed it’s path when they tried Human Transmutation. Even though Winry stated that it is a ridiculous idea, Edward pursues his theory to be right just to have an excuse about his height.

“Now that I think about it.. ..big brother does sleep an awful lot. Could he be sleeping for my body too? it can’t be.. but.. he he.. I hope it’s true.”

– Alphonse Elric, Chapter 44

Even though he travels a lot, Edward gets his full nutrition from sleeping too much, and constantly feeding himself. However, there is also a possibility that his temper and not drinking milk decreases his growth rate. Edward also carries a heavy load of metal on his right arm and left leg which also decreases his growth rate. When Edward, Alphonse, and Winry traveled to Rush valley, they met an incredible family and an rude old automail engineer who told Winry and Edward that Edward’s automail is way too heavy compared to his body weight.

“It’s not healthy to put that much strain on the user. Maybe that’s why he’s so small for his age.”

– Dominic, Chapter 18

This gives Edward another goal to reach and gives him hope to get taller. In the latter part of the story, Edward did managed to get a lighter automail when Winry fixed his automail in Briggs. When Edward first used his light weight automail, he was so happy that he was able to moved faster than he was before. He was also not teased as much as the series continues.

As a teenage guy, being admired by a girl or by someone you have an eye on is cool. But for Edward, his height is a turn-off for the girls, but not for me though. Winry was one of those girls. When they were young, Edward and Alphonse had a fight about who is going to marry Winry, but when they asked Winry about it, both of them were not accepted. The reason? It’s because Winry doesn’t like a man who is shorter than him.

“I don’t like guys who are shorter than me.”

– Winry Rockbell, Chapter 44

May Chang is also one of the girls that were turned off from Edward’s height. When he heard about the mighty Fullmetal Alchemist, she got curious who is the dashing long golden braided prince with golden eyes who saves the world. She longed to see Edward Elric and was smitten by him. She was fascinated from the things that he hears about Edward. When she finally sees Edward in person, her infatuation with Edward changed, so she moved his interest to Alphonse when she learned that Alphonse is better looking.

Another problem is that most people tend to compare Edward’s height with his huge armored younger brother, Alphonse. He travels and walks with Alphonse most of the time, of course people will say that he is small. Especially if they learned that Alphonse is his little brother. If a normal person thinks that Alphonse is a teenage boy wearing a suit of armor, and goes back to Edward as the older brother, of course they will think that Edward is small because his younger brother is huge. For Edward’s sake, we know that the Alphonse that is with him is a soul inside an armor. Also, Edward meets teenage boys like Ling Yao and Russell Tringum, a character from one of the FMA novels,. Edward is pissed of that Ling Yao is taller than him even though he is older with some months. He was also pointing out to Russell that he is an old person and not someone with the same age as Edward. However, in the last part of the story, A FMA novel: The Land of the Sand, Edward learned that Russell is actually the same age as Alphonse, 14, one year younger than Edward. Edward was even proud that the tall Tringum older brother, Russell, is 19 years old. Sorry Edward.

“Dear Edward, I owe you one more apology. The truth is, I was lying about my age. I’m really only 14, a year younger than you. Sorry I lied. Regards, Russell Tringum.”

– Russell Tringum, Fullmetal Alhcemist Novel: The Land of the Sand

The big question is did Edward got any taller in the series? Well the answer is YES! taller than Winry anyway. As Edward had said himself, he does get taller because he is still a growing man. It’s just that everyone is so much taller than him. Even Granny Pinako noticed that Edward got a little taller when they were fixing his automail. Also, when Edward changed into a lighter automail in the north, (You can notice it right away from the series ) Edward gradually gets taller especially in the end. To be honest, he is not really that short. When the series started, he was fifteen and has a height of 165cm (does not include his elevator boots and antenna ) Well, because Edward is Caucasian, I guess he is a bit short and everyone around him are practically giants. In the end, he did got taller without drinking his most detested drink, Milk.